Nyx and Four No More
by Nicole Lo
Summary: Nyx is the daughter of a diplomat, Two is a boxer and Four is a STRIPPER? The crew of the Raza made it out of the explosion alive, poison blade and all, but now everything has been turned upside down. And what's worse is that they don't even know anything is awry...
1. Pre-Chapter

**Nyx and Four No More**

Summary: What if all of the crew of the Raza survived the Ferrous Corp explosion and the poison blade, but saving their lives came at the risk of losing their identities and forced them into an alternate reality where they were actually *gasp* normal? Would their real personalities come out and would they be able to get back to who they really were?

Pre-Chapter:

The explosion was a stroke of genius, a way to get rid of all of the competitors in one small swoop. However, like all plans it required tweaking. The moment a member of the Raza appeared, everything that the Seers said started to come true. And they had to act fast.

Ryo Ishida was on board along with a few others who tried to blend in, but they made it so painfully obvious that the four of them were never meant to be there.

So alas … what the Seers said was a very, very rare and unlikely occurrence became the present reality. This meant there was only one way to get out of this without getting caught. And it involved the members of the Raza. Always the Raza.

No matter what, none of them were to become casualties, unless the entire nefarious plan would be made known to the masses which would defeat the whole purpose of blowing everyone up to stage a Galactic War that they and only they could profit from.

So the one promise that had been made was that none of the crew of the Raza would die or become incapacitated directly or indirectly by the actions of Ferrous Corp. And the masses would be made none the wiser on the real story.

Dead, but healthy. Healthy and of sound mind. However, they never said that the Raza crew members remain in this reality… They were much too dangerous for that.

* * *

(A/N: So I completely scrapped the original story for something more fun. All of the characters will be trapped in an alternate reality ... maybe for the entire story or until it's time for them to go back. I'm typing this on a tiny smartphone so please excuse any typos but call me out on them. Thanks! -NL)


	2. Meet the New Us

**Chapter One: Meet the New Us**

* * *

Ryo Tetsuda

The last five years had been kind to Ryo. He had a steady job, steady enough to get his younger sister into college and there always seemed to be a way for more money to make it into his hands. Not to make it sound easy, it was a hussle, but if you weren't fighting for something, you were living for nothing.

Tonight, he was about to make a few hundred dollars off of a few lonely women. It almost made him feel guilty about it in the beginning, but when he saw how happy they looked afterwards, and how many women he'd made smile … well that made it seemed less like taking advantage of those poor, unfortunate souls and more like payment for his awesomeness.

He'd learned over the years to be less shy and closed off and more open and fun. It make it easier for everyone. And since both of their parents were dead, Portia needed someone to rely on.

Ryo heard his music start, the Usher tune blaring from the speakers, the adrenaline pumping. As the song progressed, he moved from artistic yet seductive moves to being more scantily clothed.

* * *

Portia Lin

Portia ran after her soon-to-be ex-boyfriend giving him a shove from behind. She knew the saying that a woman should never hit a man unless she was willing to be hit back by him, but he deserved it. All this time when she was giving it her all, he was toying with her. Again.

Another stupid asshole.

"Portia just stop." He kept walking. She knew that this was just an act. They'd fought before. Many times, but this time she wanted blood.

"What's wrong. Afraid to get physical now?"

"Will you quit it? I don't have time for this shit. I'm going to be a father." She stopped in her tracks. The cheating on her was one thing but the getting someone else pregnant.

"What the fuck did you just say?" Her tone didn't betray her true feelings which quickly went from fury to hurt.

Jiyo stopped and looked her. And he almost looked sincere. "Look, she's my fiancee now-"

"Your what?" There went the rage again and there went Portia Lin's fists hammering down Jiyo until he couldn't take anymore and had fallen to the ground. So then she started up again, until he tripped her and ran off to his car while she was caught off guard.

The concrete felt hard on her palms, which were now scraped up and bleeding. Her knee had made contact with the pavement too, hard. Too hard. But most of all, it was the tears welling up in her eyes that bothered her the most. Again. She'd lost another one.

* * *

Nyx 

"So let me see if I understand you correctly. You're telling me that being a member of the Engineering Society, volunteering twenty hours a week and being the president of Toastmasters isn't enough to get me into a medical school of my choice?"

"Well, as with anything there are no guarantees. Nadia, your resume lacks uniqueness. An interesting identity… Do you do anything less …"

"Brainy?" She sighed.

"For a lack of a better term, yes." Mr. Coleman agreed, his curly black hair almost covering his eyes. She almost wrote him off right there for his own failure to properly attend to his own personal hygiene and outward appearance, except he had been right so far with everything else.

"Will you at least do me the favor of elaborating? Maybe list out a few things that I could try?" Nadia asked, her British accent contrasting against his very plain, American one.

"Of course. Something creative like fine art or interactive like drama or dance-"

"And how long do I need to do this for?" She wondered, taking down vigorous notes in her composition book which held her latest daily thoughts, plans, goals and actions.

"Anything under one year will look like you lacked dedication. I would say at least two."

Nadia was on her feet within a few seconds, a plan formulating in her brain. She had always loved dancing. Maybe it was ballet but still … that was the foundation for any dance that mattered.

"May I ask which avenue you're going to pursue?" Mr. Coleman wondered but by then Nyx was already off in a hurry.

* * *

Portia Lin

This weekend was a bad dream, a terrible nightmare that seemed to be on repeat and worst of all was that she no longer had Jiyo's number even though Portia desperately wanted to talk to him.

That was also made impossible because she didn't have a phone. She remembered getting way too drunk, burning anything that reminded her of him, deleting his number from her phone and then smashing the phone with a hammer until the SIM card had successfully been destroyed.

There were far too many pictures of them looking happy and together. For months they'd been together. Eight months of being lied to. Either her radar was off or Portia was quickly becoming one of those pathetic women that was desperate to have someone that she was willing to sink her claws into whoever was closest to her.

She was looking at her knuckles which were rubbed raw after she'd taken to that punching bag without anything but tape on her hands. It was crazy insane and painful but it was better than crying over it.

Oh no. She wouldn't do that.

Looking down at her hands still Portia didn't notice that Nadia was hurriedly walking in her path but in the opposite direction. The two of them clashed with Portia resorting to anger.

"Watch out bitch." She muttered, looking her up and down and wondering if Jiyo's new woman looked like her. She was beautiful if you liked brown skin, long hair and a slim figure.

"What did I do to you?"

"If you keep talking back, I'm going to kick your ass…" She threatened, Nadia now noticeably scared. She didn't like confrontation. The daughter of a diplomat, she was skilled in how to accept other people and be welcoming not how to grapple?

"I'm not trying to be rude, but I really don't under-" Her words were cut off by the feeling of the other woman's fist across her face.

Nadia stumbled back, dropping her books and took off in the other direction.

* * *

Ryo

"WHEN WERE YOU GOING TO TELL ME THAT YOU'RE FAILING?!" Ryo's voice bellowed low and strong. His Little sister was looking up at him, as defiant as ever, her hands wrapped in that stupid boxing tape again.

"I didn't think it mattered."

"What?"

"No one else in our family has gone. You have-"

He cut her off. "Everyone else in our family is dead. DEAD! Don't you get it? They lived on the streets. They wanted the fast life. They didn't have the money or the education. These are all things that I'm slaving to give to you…" He tried to calm down a little. Yelling didn't work with her and he knew it. "Portia, don't you think I'd be in school if I could? What do you think the lifespan is for a male stripper? Thirty, forty, fifty?"

"If you don't want to do it, then don't." She crossed her arms over her chest like a child. But she wasn't a child. She was twenty-two years old. Old enough to know better.

"Why are you wasting this opportunity? You're brilliant. All those tests said that you were a genius. You can solve all these crazy equations in your head. You understand technology. Your mind is an amazing machine and you want to slum it down here with the rest of us…." He shook his head. "Hell no. You either finish this degree or I stop paying for boxing and kick you out."

"So what?" She challenged. "I can always just strip like you for a living." Portia saw her brother's face and knew that she'd gone too far.

"You know what … fuck you. Decide what the hell you want to do and tell me by tomorrow. If you want to leave, good luck. Just make sure to take all your shit with you." Ryo walked back to his room, closing the door. Portia was too proud to apologize, but she instantly felt worse than when she walked to their house.

Ryo, in his room tried to push what had happened out of his mind. He knew he was a failure, not living up to what he could be so how could he preach to Portia? He needed a distraction. There was too much going on to add this to his plate. His fingers dialed Misaki's number.

"Hey baby girl, can you come over…" In twenty minutes give or take, this would be a bad memory.

* * *

(A/N: The correct Pre-Chapter and Chapter One are up now ... This is very AU now and I know part of the cast are college students, but they might remember who they really are, maybe … one day? And yes I know that Nyx's name isn't Nadia. I'm getting to that. Review/comment please. -NL)


	3. To Burn a Bridge or to Make One?

**Chapter Two: To Burn a Bridge or to Make One?**

* * *

Griffin

"Nadia sweetheart please just spend a little time with Zoe and Kayla. They're the other Ambassador's daughters and you should show them around."

"They're troublemakers dad. I'm embarrassed to show my face in their home countries. I don't know how they could feel differently. " She answered her dad thinking that South Africa and Brazil were definitely off the map.

"Nadia please do this for me." He begged.

"Fine. They're waiting outside aren't they?"

* * *

Ryo

Misaki woke up next to Ryo, her hair a tousled big mess. They'd been doing this thing for a while, using each other's bodies for comfort, never getting too close.

Once he thought that they should give it a try and it was a disaster. She was the insecure type in a relationship and didn't trust him not to cheat ...even though Ryo actually was cheating, she never had proof and thought he was being sneaky when he wasn't.

He couldn't blame her. Ten years ago Ryo was a stupid teenager and put her through hell until they broke up when he was nineteen. It was a clean break until the Ishidas were brutally murdered, leaving him with a fifteen year old sister to take care of.

That's when Misaki stepped in and let Portia move into her house with her parents while Ryo figured shit out. That's when they started sleeping with each other again but she make it clear that it couldn't be the way it was before because she couldn't trust him.

Fast forward to today and Ryo didn't have any complaints. She must've picked up on his mood last night because what she did to him was amazing, almost enough to make him fall in love with her… if he had time for that.

* * *

Nyx

Zoe and Kayla went ahead without me, of course, forcing me to find my way to this place.

If I hadn't promised my dad, I would bail. Why would I want to party with them? And why male strippers? American strip clubs lacked the artistry and finesse that we had in the U.K.

I quickly got in after a short debate with the bouncer,. I guess I wasn't dressed promiscuous enough, and and found them in the front.

I watched bored as man after man came on stage. I was tired of seeing ripped guys and their privates. If you've seen one, you've seen all right?

Within an hour I was dying to get out but the rule was no one left unless it was an emergency.

I was walking back to my seat as the next guy started, Ginuwine's In Those Jeans started and Nadia thought that at least he had good music taste.

She looked up to see a guy with way too much talent and dance ability take the stage. As much as she wanted to look away, she couldn't and blushed when it was over and she'd seen everything.

This definitely was a night that she wouldn't forget.

* * *

Ryo

"Get up Han." He obnoxiously whispered into her ear with a low, southern drawl which she hated.

"Let me sleep."

"No. You owe me breakfast." Her eyes opened swiftly.

"Bull shit. You know the deal. I worked the shit out of you last night." She argued back.

"I don't remember that." Ryo placed his arms behind his head.

"Let me remind you." Misaki placed her legs on either side of Ryo's body, the sheet falling off her and exposing her ripe, naked body. Ryo grinned with lustful thoughts in his mind as he door handle to his room jiggled and then opened.

"I thought about it and I'm a jerk so-" Portia stopped once she saw a naked Misaki over her naked brother.

"Forget it. You guys are disgusting."

Ryo laughed, giving his ex-girlfriend a passionate kiss before throwing on some sweats and chasing after his sis.

"Yo Pors-Portia!"

"It's going to take me years to get that image out of my mind." She complained, dumping a bunch of stuff into a book bag. Ryo's eyebrow rose, amused.

"So what were you trying to tell me back there? Did you make a decision?" He smirked, already knowing what she was going to say.

"Yeah stupid. I'm staying with you. I'll take school seriously and you can check on me until I regain your trust."

"I like that."

"I was going to take you to breakfast but since Misaki I still here-"

"We'll go together. My treat."

* * *

Nyx

So this was it. Nadia was going to go to the dance team's tryouts. It was a month from now which gave her a lot of time to put together a solo routine.

The main thing that concerned her now was that she'd just seen the girls from last year's team and they looked professional. And like sexy vixens. That was not like Nadia at all.

Still, she grabbed a flyer and put her name on the tryout sheet. Thenshe was off to tutor a new kid in Calculus II. And she was late thanks to Zoe and Kayla and partying on a Sunday. Who kid that?

Leaving her last tutoring session, Nadia pulled out the flyer again. Reading and walking like she normally did and that's when it happened again.

Twice in the last two weeks. After getting punched last time, Nadia was anxious about what was to come.

"I-I'm sorry." She muttered realizing that it was a man that bumped into her this time. And he looked just like- no way.

"No sweat." He grinned carefree. God it must be nice to live a life with no worries. Nadia was about to head on her way when the girl from last week appeared.

"You? Please… I'm not in the mood to get punched again."

"I'm not hitting you pussy." Portia shook her head, grabbing the flyer out of Nadia's hands just because she could.

"Portia would you come on? We have to find Nadia Said before she leaves."

" Nadia Said," she turned back to the guy from earlier.

"Perfect. I'm Ryo Ishida and I need a tutor."

"Sure. Come with me." She walked past him and back into the library, her heels documenting her every move.

* * *

Ryo

She was uptight and stiff, just like Ryo thought a tutor would be. Since she was the only female tutor for advanced mathematics, he'd chosen her for Portia and since Portia was defiant, he came with to make sure it actually was done.

Nadia handed him paperwork as Portia waited in the doorframe. Her brother was smiling way too much at this British chick and she didn't like it.

She didn't like him being with any girl without the Portia stamp of approval. This one was too wimpy.

When Ryo finished filling out the sheet he handed it back and Nadia took a look. "Portia … I thought your name was Ryo."

"It is but Portia needs the help. I'm just her brother."

"Sorry. I can't help you."

"But a minute ago you just said-"

"I'm not sure if you heard but your sister got physical with me. I'm just not accustomed to violence so for my own protection I can't tutor her. She doesn't respect me."

Nadia stood up and was on her way.

"She's sorry for that. Portia tell her… look, I'll help you with something and guarantee your safety. I'll be there at the sessions to monitor her-"

"I'm sorry Ryo. I can't."

He brother and sister duo exchanged looks as Portia smiled smugly. She'd gotten rid of this one without much of an effort. Served her brother right for adding conditions to their agreement after it was agreed upon.

"Portia."

"I'm sorry… Nadia. I was going through something and took it out on you." Portia walked over to her and handed her back the flyer. "Are you really trying out for that?"

"Yes. Excuse me."

"You know it's impossible to get in. Those girls are just so free and seductive. Think you can do that?"

"I don't have a choice. Get in it forget about Med School."

"Then let me help you. Come down to the studio with me right now and I'll show you what I can do." Ryo begged.

If it were any other woman Ryo would just seduce them but that would scare off someone like this girl. No… he needed to be serious and show the artist side of himself.

* * *

Nyx

She knew who he was for sure when Nadia saw him dance. No man should be able to move their body so smoothly. She was in awe.

Ryo was going to be the one to help her. Portia was terrifying but if this was the way to becoming a Doctor, she was willing to take it.

"Now let me see what you can do."

"What? I'm not properly dressed." Nadia used that as her excuse.

"Relax. I've got something for you." He motioned towards Portia who handed her some loose workout clothes for a woman and then said, "I'll wait." Nadia shook her head in disbelief. This only happened in the movies. Who were these people?

Now, there was no way out. She pulled the T-shirt and sweats on in the bathroom and later hooked her phone up to the sound system in an open dance studio.

Stupid of her to follow people she didn't know to this place but … something was stopping her from saying no. And it definitely wasn't Portia.

So even though Nadia hadn't said 'no' she was super tight. Acting acting torpid and shy but knowing who this guy was was making her nervous. He'd asked her to pick a song to get them started so …

She finally settled on a Rihanna song- 'Where have you been'- and started dancing. When it was over she felt … better.

Ryo clapped out of duty and then asked, "do you know what the dancers here are known for? They leave this school and make it to the pros, work for stars… the style is different from yours. Even the song…"

He went over to her phone and picked out a new one. When the first techno sound started she knew what it was. Still Rhianna.

'Cake.'

"Come here and stand next to me. See if you are mimic my moves." Ryo demanded as his audition to teach quickly turned into her audition to secure him as a teacher.

Nadia tried keeping up but all of her ballet training was working against her. Halfway into the song, he gave up.

"Come here… now stand directly behind me. Get close." She moved in closer but still gave him some space. "You have to push your body all the way up against mine if you want to mimic my moves exactly. Let's just see if you can move your hips." He suggested trying not to sigh, pushing her body into his until there was no space.

Nadia could feel every part of his bum, every sweat bead but he was right. This was forcing her to loosen up.

"W-What do I do with my arms?"

"Just wrap them around me. Or put them on your hips… doesn't matter. We need to get this step first."

Nadia decided to do the latter until she gave in and held onto him for security. Maybe he didn't notice that her heart rate had picked up but … oh, forget it. He was a male stripper and she was dating Marcel just like her father wanted. Besides, what could he offer her that she didn't already have?

* * *

(A/N: Keep reading and review. I'm still working on my others … My Last Breath, Uncontrollable, Leave the Lights On and Get Over Me. -NL)


End file.
